Preparing for long-term car storage

You’ve made a brilliant first step! But there’s work to be done before you can rest easy and consider your precious motor to be in the best possible care and away from harm.

Before you book your car transport to get the vehicle to the storage facility, there are a few things you can do to make sure it’s in the best possible health while in storage.

Why should I prepare my car for long-term storage?

It goes without saying that if you pick the best car storage facility, it’s their job to ensure your car remains in brilliant health while in their care, but if you’re a true petrolhead and love your car as much as you say you do, you’ll know, deep down, that you can do a bit of the work yourself.

What’s more, you might actually enjoy doing it yourself! This is a labour of love, after all.

It’s easy to think that when a car goes into long-term storage it’s effectively sat in ‘stasis’, and therefore doesn’t need any form of pre-treatment. In reality, while a vehicle is stationary for long periods of time, things can go wrong.

What should I do to prepare?

You’ll be glad to hear that the steps you need to take in order to prepare your car for long-term storage are actually pretty straightforward.

Start by giving it the clean of its life. We recommend a full detailing, if possible (some car storage facilities may eve be able to do this for you while it’s in storage). Even the most innocuous-looking dirt and grime can play havoc with paintwork, which is why a deep clean is so important.

This goes for both inside and outside the car, so get out your best cleaning materials and substances, set aside a weekend, and get cracking!

Change the fluids

There’s nothing better you can do for your car before long-term storage than ensuring it has nice, clean fluids inside that engine.

New oil is the main thing to focus on, as this will rid the engine of any contaminants that might build up while it’s sat for extended periods of time.

If your budget allows, why not give it a mini service instead? That way, you can be sure every type of fluid is fresh and ready for rest.

Fill the tank

This might feel like a really odd thing to do before the car goes into hibernation, but by filling the petrol tank, you’ll prevent moisture from building up within it.

This is also why car transportation makes sense - rather than driving it to the facility. That way, you can ensure no petrol is needlessly used, and all of the effort you’ve put into the car being cleaned and made factory-fresh won’t be lost.

Wrapping up

That’s it! See? We told you the work wouldn’t be too taxing, and if you follow our tips above, your car will be in the absolute best condition for long-term storage.